Adaptation: Not
Just for the Fish

ow
will climate change affect marine fisheries? No one really knows
the answer to this question, though we are all expecting changes.
There are almost as many predictions as there are fishermen and
scientists thinking about this issue. Some say the waters will warm
due to increased air temperatures. Others say the waters will cool
due to frigid water from melting glaciers entering the sea. Ocean
currents may change course or flow, but we are unsure in what way
they will change. In response to a changing environment, marine
species may change their distribution and migration patterns, feed
may become more abundant or scarcer, disease may become a factor
where it had not been. All of this uncertainty leads me to believe
that the only successful fisheries strategy will be an adaptive
strategy.

(Photo: Maria Recchia)

Inshore fisheries
in the Bay of Fundy have a long history of adaptability. The
traditional inshore fisherman switches gear, species, and fishing
locations throughout the year based on the seasons, abundance of
fish, and market value. He might fish for scallops in January,
February, and March, gaspereau (for lobster bait) in April, lobster
in May and June, scallops, dogfish, halibut, or herring in the
summer months, and lobster again in November and December. In years
past, local fishermen fished also for hake, salmon, mackerel, cod,
haddock, and pollock. This varied strategy allows fishermen to
follow environmental ups and downs as well as market fluctuations.
There is never a need or a motivation to fish out the last fish. If
the stock declines, it becomes economically unfeasible to pursue it.
The fisherman may choose to focus on another fishery that season
or, if he has done well that year he may take some time off to work
on his boat or his gear.

In years past, new
fisheries developed when the supply was there and a market was
created. Similarly some fisheries disappeared as stocks dwindled or
the market waned. Today this adaptive strategy is in jeopardy.
For many years, government policy and incentives have favoured the
development of single-species fishermen or, even more so, fishing
companies. Once a fishing enterprise becomes specialized, it no
longer has the ability to ride out the ups and downs of the
ecosystem and the market. If a boat specializes in groundfish (cod,
haddock, and pollock), they are forced to fish those species until
the stocks have collapsed. And that is exactly what happened to the
groundfish stocks. The collapse of the cod fishery that was felt in
Newfoundland several years ago has now occurred in the Bay of
Fundy. The fishery has disappeared. Was the groundfish collapse
related to climate change or was it just another case of overfishing?
At this point, we may never know, but we must work to prevent such
ecological and social devastation from happening again.

(Photo: Maria Recchia)

I am a firm
believer in the resiliency of the small-boat, multi-license fishery
for two main reasons. Firstly, it eliminates the need to overfish
and secondly, it provides a mechanism to adapt to a changing
environment. In order for this strategy to be successful, fishermen
need to be able to create or enter new fisheries as the traditional
fisheries dwindle or to change their fishing strategy as the
ecosystem changes. If migration patterns change, fishermen may need
to change their fishing seasons. Or, if species distribution
changes, fishermen may need to alter where they fish or to create
new fisheries for species that are locally plentiful.
Unfortunately, inshore fishermen have been limited drastically in
what, how, when, where, and how much they can fish. In Canada
today, fisheries management is so strict that it is nearly
impossible for inshore fishermen to create a new fishery or change
the rules of an existing fishery. Large corporations have a much
easier time with this since they have the money to pay for
feasibility studies and the political connections to change policy.

The erosion of the
inshore fisheries’ traditional adaptive strategies and the
immovability of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are resulting
in increasing vulnerability as climate change proceeds. I am deeply
concerned with the health of the marine environment, as are many
inshore fishermen. Fishing families from small fishing communities
all around the Bay of Fundy coast want to maintain their families’
fishing livelihoods for future generations. But there is great
concern that the inshore fisherman is going the way of the cod.

(Photo: Maria Recchia)

I
hope we will be able to curb climate change through conservation and
awareness. I am convinced that I need to use less fossil fuel in
all aspects of my life. But sadly, I am also convinced that climate
change is here and progressing quickly. Adaptation will be an
important strategy in the natural resource-based sectors. We are
often so focussed on progress and new ideas that we overlook old
ways that are as sound today as they were in the past. To me, the
best strategy to deal with climate change in the fisheries is to
protect and expand the adaptive community-based inshore
multi-license fishery. It will support fishing communities today
and allow fishing livelihoods to continue to adapt to ecological
change as they have done throughout history.